“Pharmacists: Meeting global health needs” is the theme of World Pharmacists Day on 25 September 2024.
FIP, the leader of pharmacy at a global level, has existed for over a century, recognising the need to work across borders in order to improve health. The health challenges our world faces are increasingly international and multidimensional, and the importance of ensuring good health and strong, sustainable health systems in every country, eliminating health inequities, was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, more countries and organisations have now developed new global health strategies,1-4 setting out urgent current and future challenges, such as lack of access to health care, shortages of healthcare professionals, antimicrobial resistance, climate change and air pollution, HIV, and emerging infectious diseases.
Some of the solutions proposed by these strategies, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, are: strengthening health systems (including improving access to primary health care), preventing health risks, and preparing for and responding to health crises.
Pharmacists serve as integral members of healthcare systems, playing a vital role in meeting health needs. First and foremost, they ensure access to essential medicines and their optimal use, but they also use their expertise to contribute significantly to patient care and public health. In many places, pharmacists are the first point of contact for health advice and primary health care, especially in resource-limited settings. They help prevent diseases (e.g, through administering vaccinations); they conduct health screening, educate patients and help to improve health literacy; they support public health campaigns, participate in research and development of new medicines, lead in pharmacovigilance and make sure that antibiotics are used only when needed; they are implementing greener ways of working and addressing the impact of climate change on health; and they advocate for policy changes that promote better health outcomes. And, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacists are at the forefront of addressing global health crises.
In many and diverse ways, every day the pharmacy profession meets health needs. The FIP World Pharmacists Day campaign is a means for the profession to celebrate and make known the contributions it makes to better health around the world. It is also an opportunity to highlight our further potential in improving global health.
We invite colleagues in every country to join us in marking World Pharmacists Day, reminding decision-makers and the public how the role of pharmacists in meeting health needs remains crucial for building healthier communities everywhere.
Join the FIP campaign
World Pharmacists Day (25 September) marks the anniversary of the inception of FIP in 1912 and was adopted by the FIP Council in 2009. As such, the World Pharmacists Day campaign is led by FIP every year, with the theme chosen by the FIP Bureau. In 2020, FIP also created World Pharmacy Week, extending the celebrations of the entire profession and overtly encompassing all sectors of the pharmacy profession. Any reference to “World Pharmacists Day” or “World Pharmacy Week” should, therefore, include FIP.
As a service to the profession, FIP develops and offers a range of World Pharmacists Day / World Pharmacy Week campaign materials for use each year. No fees are required for use of this intellectual property. However, without express permission:
Our World Pharmacists Day / World Pharmacy Week logos/designs may not be used for products/content/events with a commercial purpose;
The FIP logo may not be used;
Our campaign assets must not be altered in any way;
Use of the current year’s assets should not extend beyond 30 September of the same year.
cc; FIP
